New Delhi: Power and coal minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday announced that the government has approved swapping of coal supplies between power projects of private and public companies.

The government on Wednesday launched a web portal called Coal Mitra to enable flexibile utilisation of coal.

ET on Wednesday reported that state-run power plants will soon be able to swap coal supplies with projects of private companies through tariff-based online competitive bidding.

The portal will enable states to procure cheaper electricity by swapping coal to efficient power projects or by saving logistics cost. Coal Mitra will initially allow transfer of domestic coal between state and central PSUs but will soon be extended to include private power plants.

For coal swap, state generation firms will have to consult power distribution companies and ensure cost of power does not rise above existing tariffs after the transfer. State generation companies will float short-term power supply bids and companies that agree to offer power at the lowest rate through reverse e-auction will be selected for coal swap.